rabid, beyond saving. And even now, with a willing female standing before him, he prowled the cage of my mind, unsatisfied with what she offered. My logical mind knew I should take what had been offered dozens of times, throw Tia up against the wall and fuck her, allow her to cuff me and do her best to control me when the beast raged against the restraints.
But even as I thought of the possibility, my beast growled a warning. He was not interested. He would not acknowledge this woman as his mate, would not be tamed by her presence.
“That could be you,” Engel said, tilting his head toward the other cell, then looking down at Tia with an obvious question in his raised brows. A question I could not answer. The beast chose the mate, not I, and it did not want Tia. Fucking her would not change that. For years I’d laughed at the absurd claim of other warriors I knew who’d tried to explain this fact to me. I’d ignored them, at my peril. The beast was in charge now. All I could do was sit back and thank the gods he’d allowed me control long enough to get rid of our visitors.
Tia took a step closer to the grav-wall and the scent of her bathing oil, spices and nerdera flower, enveloped me as the air filtration system pumped their combined scents into the cell.
Revulsion made my beast growl. No. I had known her my entire life, and we both knew I held no desire for her. I admired and respected her, but my feelings were similar to those I held for my sister. My beast refused to become aroused by her. In fact, he became angrier each time they appeared with the same words, the same enticements. Engel wanted me to mate his daughter. My beast would not accept her. I’d told the man many, many times.
“We’ve come to offer you a second chance,” he continued. “You will be executed in three days, Commander. Surely, we would all prefer to avoid that.”
“Second chance?” I said, my voice rough and deep, so unfamiliar to me. It was more like twentieth, but I held my tongue.
“You don’t remember?” Tia asked, her gaze fixated on my bare chest. I could not miss her interest or her arousal at the sight of my body. In fact, I could smell the wet welcome of her pussy, but my beast skulked, refusing to be tempted.
She was a tall woman, statuesque. The perfect example of an Atlan bride. Her dark hair flowed long and free down her back and her floor-length yellow gown, the crisscross of gold outlining her perfect breasts showed off both her status as a wealthy Atlan elite, and her dark coloring to perfection. She was extremely beautiful, but my beast didn’t want anything to do with her. It would be so much fucking easier if he did.
Afraid to speak, worried my beast would snap or snarl, I shook my head.
“Your beast gains more control each day, Commander. We came yesterday. Tia offers herself to you as a mate. Let her save you.”
“She should speak for herself then.” I couldn’t hold the words back, for Engel wouldn’t have escorted her if he did not have his own machinations. I just didn’t know what they were. As a member of the ruling class, he had been in charge of interplanetary shipments and supplies for more than a decade. He was a very powerful man, wealthy and well connected, a ten-year veteran of the Hive wars. Engel wouldn’t come here to pawn off his daughter, to stand by as a beast fucked her, just to get her mated. She had her choice of mates.
“Why me?”
Tia’s cheeks blushed red and she bit her plump lower lip in a move practiced and well perfected. I knew. I’d watched her tempt warriors with that look many times before I’d joined the Coalition Fleet. “I’m willing, Deek. You know I’ve cared for you since I was a girl. We have known each other for years, and I wish for this union. I find you… attractive. We could be good together.”
Tia’s admittance surprised me, and my beast. While she may have been interested, my beast had never once found significance in her. I knew the beast’s desire would flare to life when I found the right mate, yet I never had. I’d fucked females, plenty of them, but Tia didn’t want just a hard fuck with a condemned warrior. She wanted to mate me. She wanted forever. She wanted me to give her control of my beast.
“Why me, Tia?”
“You were my best friend. It’s always been you, ever since we were young ones in the nursery. You know I followed you around like a shadow. Always. I don’t want to see you die, Deek. Please. I want to spend the rest of my life by your side, as your mate.”
My beast roared to life. “No,” it shouted, pushing to the fore. My skin tightened and the heat of the beast roared through my veins. The muscles bulged on my neck and arms and my back elongated, stretching to accommodate the monster straining to break free. I pushed him back, barely holding on to control as Tia gasped, backing away from the grav-wall.
“Then you die,” Engel said, his gaze narrowed and filled with a level of hatred I’d never seen from him before. It was not my intention to hurt Tia, but the beast was in control, and the beast was tired of having the same female be thrown at him over and over, despite his rejections.
I breathed hard, tried to calm my pounding heart so I could respond. “I would take her here, fuck her against the wall. I would not be gentle. I would hurt her, Engel; her presence does not calm my rage. You want that for Tia?” I asked him, my hands clenched into fists.
Tia put a hand on her father’s shoulder. “Let me speak with him, Father.”
Engel nodded, gave me a hard look, then left.
Tia remained. She walked to the side of the grav-wall and removed a small black pouch from her pocket, placing it in the slot used to pass items to me without the risk of lowering the grav-walls protective shield. She pressed a button and the small drawer slid through the wall to emerge on my side of the containment cell.
I opened the hatch and looked down to see my great-grandmother’s most beloved possession, a family heirloom that had been passed to Tia’s family line three generations ago. I knew what was inside the engraved pouch, but still, I could not resist opening the top and pouring the wealth of gold links into my hand.
I looked at it, then at her. “Why would you give this to me?”
“You are afraid you are too rough for me, that the beast within you will hurt me. It is a present, for the beast. Perhaps touching something that has touched my skin will ease your fever in some small way.”
I lifted the necklace from my palm. The small elaborate gold and graphite coils were cool to the touch, smooth. If the gift was meant to pacify me, it was not working. Nothing would work from Tia, for she was not my mate. My life would be so much easier if my beast would accept her. But he refused.
I placed the necklace back into its pouch and sent it back to Tia using the small drawer. “Keep it, Tia. When you find the mate you are destined for, neither the necklace nor your eagerness will be denied.”
“Please, Deek. At least try…” She lifted a hand to her shoulder and shrugged her gown off the side, exposing her entire shoulder, her neck and most of her breast.
“No.” My voice rose as I spoke, the beast was eager to tell her off. She was not my mate, and the beast was eager to ensure she would not return. I had no desire to waste the short time I had left giving her false hope. “We were friends as children, Tia. But I’ve been gone a long time. I am not the same man that left. And as much as I wish you were, you are not my mate. The beast can smell your desire, the wet heat of your pussy. He does not desire you. He will not allow me to touch you. I am sorry.”
Anger flared in her
